San Francisco Chronicle: A humbled Hugo

Venezuela's hyperbolic Hugo Chavez is trying out a new role. He's now a reflective realist, willing to retreat from flamboyant fights and foolish causes. His erstwhile allies such as Colombia's rebels and the Castro clan in Cuba must be wondering what happened to their fire-breathing ally. This past week, he broke the news to the jungle rebels in next-door Colombia that their 40-year fight was up: 'The guerrilla war is history.' At the same time, he dumped a plan to implant a secret police program at home, complete with a neighborhood surveillance feature that was ridiculed as the 'Gestapo law' and compared to the block-watching snoops in Cuba. Even Chavez, a tireless self-promoter buoyed by oil money, has run into limits. Try as he will, he's still tethered by Venezuela's durable democratic rules. In December he lost a vote on governmental changes, including a provision for unlimited presidential terms. This fall, he's facing another vote, this one for his slate of governors and mayors.